Currently florist customers generally must visit a florist shop or call during the shop's business hours in order to obtain service. However, given the consuming public's demand for "twenty-four hour" service due to complex and busy schedules, a florist shop, that is open for business only eight or ten hours a day, is missing many opportunities to serve their clientele at the clientele's convenience.
Some efforts have been made at providing floral vending machines. These machines are essentially the same as any other refrigerated vending machine in that they hold compartments with flower arrangements which are accessible immediately for purchase. However, one of the greatest services a florist can provide is the delivery of flowers, often to a location at a great distance away. These vending machines are not capable of such delivery applications. Nor do they alert the florist when their inventory is low and by how much or on what items. This requires a first trip to the machine to determine what items have been sold and then typically a second trip to restock those items.
Further, vending machines do not exist with international capabilities nor is the traditional method of ordering flowers through a florist for international delivery very expedient. Currently customers must pay an extra surcharge for overseas delivery and are still not assured of timely delivery. Obviously there are many instances where timely delivery is of the utmost importance, for example, for funerals.
A listing of prior patents, which may be relevant to the invention, is presented below:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,311,227 Watkins JAN. 19, 1982 5,360,134 Falk, et al NOV. 01, 1994 5,386,462 Schlamp JAN. 31, 1995 5,450,938 Rademacher SEP. 19, 1995 5,472,116 Barbe, et al DEC. 05, 1995 5,511,646 Maldanis, et al APR. 30, 1996 ______________________________________
The Watkins U.S. Pat. No. (4,311,227) discloses an automated vending system using a set of climate controlled cubicles, each with a door that is unlocked electronically when it receives the proper signal from a corresponding panel of selection buttons. The system also includes a remote programming panel for adjusting the amount of credit necessary to unlock the door to each cubicle. The signal from the selection button will unlock the door corresponding to that button only if the system's bill reader has received the amount of money required for that door, as set at the remote programming panel.
The Falk U.S. Pat. No. (5,360,134) discloses an automated vending system that uses a cylindrical drum within a cabinet. The drum is divided into compartments by a fixed number of horizontal shelves and a variable number of vertical walls. Each horizontal shelf corresponds to a transparent door in the cabinet and an electronic price display. When the customer actuates the mechanism that rotates the drum, the electronic display shows the price of the goods aligned with the door. When the customer deposits the proper amount of money, the door corresponding to the selection is unlocked electronically to allow access to the goods. The Falk invention is designed to accept coins and bills and to accommodate a climate control system.
The Falk vending system may be programmed to limit the drum's range of motion and those limits may be programmed to change over time. The price of accessing individual compartments may be programmed to change over time, as well.
The Schlamp U.S. Pat. No. (5,386,462) discloses a vending system that uses a computing unit and a fixed number of compartments designed to allow one or more merchants to make goods available to one or more customers after hours. If a customer pre-selects goods from a merchant for pick up after hours, the merchant deposits the ordered goods in a compartment and uses the vending system's input device to associate a "customer number" with that compartment. The customer can unlock that compartment at a later time by entering the same customer number and charging the price of the goods to an account.
The Schlamp vending system also allows the merchant to offer goods for sale to the general public, including a means of advertising the available goods and a means of accepting coins and bills. Furthermore, this vending system allows potential costumers to retrieve the list of available goods remotely using telecommunications and to reserve goods using a customer number.
The Rademacher U.S. Pat. No. (5,450,938) discloses a vending system that ties a single card reader to two or more conventional currency-activated vending machines.
The Barbe et al U.S. Pat. No. (5,472,116) discloses an apparatus for dispensing tickets, as for transportation, to customers. The apparatus includes a screen, a display, a scroll knob, and a confirmation button. The customer selects parameters, such as destination and class, by turning the knob to cause the list of valid parameter values to scroll across the display and pressing the confirmation button when the desired value is highlighted. After the customer has selected all necessary parameters and has paid the necessary price, the apparatus prints and dispenses an appropriate ticket. The apparatus accepts cash and credit cards.
The Maldanis U.S. Pat. No. (5,511,646) discloses a method of programming a vending machine having two or more shelves that circulate on a conveyor belt to align with a horizontally disposed row of access doors.
While the Watkins invention uses climate controlled compartments, and the Falk invention remembers which compartments have been accessed, and the Schlamp invention uses telecommunications to accept orders for on-site pick up, none of these systems allow for the dual role of immediate purchase and receipt of goods and/or immediate purchase with remote delivery at a place and time specified at the time of purchase by the purchaser. Therefore, inter alia, none of the above referenced patents use telecommunications to allow a customer at the vending machine to place an order for remote delivery or to allow the florist to know what items have been sold and removed from the machine without a visual inspection.
It is also known to use the "world wide web" or internet for an automated, computerized process for a customer to place an order using the customer's PC, as well as simple telephonic calling, for placing floral orders through a live operator. However, these approaches do not provide for direct, automated vending and have other disadvantages not present in the automated florist vending and order taking system of the present invention.